Once Upon a Time
by Iris Amergin
Summary: Fire Emblem 4. Holsety ruminates on Dain, Noba, and the circumstances that tore them apart.


Once Upon a Time   
by Iris Amergin  
  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem. But I wish I did. ;__;  
  
Notes: This fic was written for a challenge on the temps_mort LiveJournal community; a time limit of 75 minutes was alloted to write something involving the theme of earth. I spent maybe an hour on something that didn't utilize the theme anywhere near as much as I had originally planned. Oops.  
  
  
  
  
Once upon a time--fairy tales are supposed to begin that way, aren't they? It's something of a silly convention, once you think about it. Beginning with "once upon a time" and ending with "happily ever after," as if every story fits into that idealistic notion of good and evil, right and wrong, with the hero winning his princess's hand in marriage and the evil banished from the kingdom.   
  
Once upon a time, I thought things really worked that way. And indeed, that was how our story began.   
  
Once upon a time, the followers of Loptuous rose and seized power over the continent. Everyone was powerless before them. Entire kingdoms fell. The balance of power had long been delicate on Jugdral, like a structure built from a child's blocks--seemingly tall and powerful, but ready to tip at the slightest touch, which the Loptuous were all too glad to provide. The old order fell. The new order rose. And life continued on.   
  
Once upon a time, a small resistance decided the situation was simply too intolerable. We didn't have lofty ideas about changing history. We didn't want to be revered as heroes. We only wanted freedom. We certainly weren't the harmonious team that they make us out to be now. It was a rocky start and a rockier road to understanding. Neir never took anything too seriously, which infuriated Baldo, at which point Blagi tried to mediate, but Fala would always make some snappish remark that started the whole argument over again...and yet somehow, amidst such unpromising beginnings, a friendship was forged. Our greatest strength--though it nearly got us all killed too many times. A cynic might say we were all far too eager to risk our lives for one another. And he might well be right.   
  
Once upon a time, there were no two of us closer than Dain and Noba.   
  
They were perhaps the two among us with the most differences. Dain was an idealist, living his life in pursuit of lofty goals and distant dreams. Noba was pragmatic, grounded in reality, always the one who patiently reminded the rest of us what was within our capabilities. Dain was fiery and tempermental. Noba was calm and mellow. Dain wanted to fly. Noba told him to lace his boots first.   
  
If they were not brother and sister, I can't imagine how those two would ever have been so close.   
  
But the bonds of family can overcome differences that would otherwise be insurmountable obstacles--or at least it seemed that way to me, watching them at the time. She might not share his ideals, but Dain was willing to fight to the death to defend his younger sister. And although she thought her brother impractical, Noba considered it her duty to stay with him and act as his grounding force, keeping his head from soaring too far into the clouds. They risked their lives for each other, fought at each other's side, stood together through things that would have caused other relationships to sunder.   
  
When we were bequeathed with the Holy Weapons, it seemed only fitting that they would receive the twin spears. Gungnir, the spear of the heavens; there was no better weapon for one like Dain. And Gae Bolg, the spear of the earth, was ideally suited for Noba.   
  
Once upon a time, we fought the followers of Loptuous. And we won.   
  
It was after that victory that we went our separate ways, each seeking to rebuild the lands we hailed from. Odo returned to the far northeast, and the kingdom of Isaac was born. Hezul led the reconstruction of what would become Agustria, although he refused to become the king--a knight through and through, that man. Heim worked to repair the ravaged heartland, and founded the kingdom of Grandbell--with the help of Fala, Ulir, Baldo, Tordo, Blagi, and Neir. The north called to me, and so I returned to my native Silesia--not expecting to become a monarch, but who among us had? We only sought to finish what we had started and restore the land to its former glory, in whatever way we might. We had to become heroes, because no one else would.   
  
But I digress. At this point, the tale is no longer mine, or Hezul's or Odo's or Heim's.   
  
Once upon a time, Dain and Noba returned to the Thracian peninsula and began earnest efforts to heal their own homeland.   
  
I can't say for sure what happened--I was not there, and I never saw them again after the final battle, near the city now called Barhara. Only through hearsay am I able to relate the rest of this tale, and who knows what really happened? I can only assume that the opposing natures of heaven and earth finally reached the point at which they could no longer coexist.   
  
Fault lies with both and neither. Dain should have realized that compromises had to be made, that recovery was a slow process and that sometimes you had to deal with a lesser evil to help suppress a greater one--but how could one honestly expect him to betray the principles he had fought a war for? Noba should have understood why her brother found certain actions unacceptable, even if they were for the greater good down the road--but how could she do something that would condemn her people to further suffering, even if it was the more honorable thing to do?   
  
Once upon a time, Dain left to found the kingdom of Thracia in the mountains to the south, and Noba continued her struggle to rebuild Lenster and the Manster district alone.   
  
But Dain learned quickly that a kingdom could not exist solely on lofty principles and thin mountain soil, and an elite force of Dragon Knights is no substitute for a solid network of farmers. But he could not, would not go crawling back to his sister and admit that she had a point--for the pride of the heavens is derived from their position above the earth below.   
  
And Noba learned that a flourishing kingdom is a desirable target. But she could not, would not attempt to negotiate a trade agreement with Thracia, because all Dain's kingdom had to sell was the services of its warriors, and that would be anything but practical when Lenster had no enemies save Thracia itself.   
  
Once upon a time, the two most inseparable of the Crusaders died without ever settling their differences.   
  
Once upon a time, those of us who knew them best are still left wondering why.   



End file.
